Secretary of State Marco Rubio sparred with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) during a Senate hearing on Tuesday as Murphy fumed at Rubio for not being aware of a dinner President Donald Trump is hosting with the top investors in his crypto coin, which critics worry is a way for foreign entities to buy facetime with the president.
“Let me ask you about the dinner that’s happening this Thursday night. The president has offered access to him to the 200 top purchasers of his meme coin. Reports are that maybe about half or more of those individuals who will be meeting with him, many in a VIP reception, are foreigners. Do you have a list of those foreign individuals who’ll be meeting with the president?” Murphy began.
“I don’t. I don’t even know there was a dinner on Thursday night, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to,” Rubio replied.
“So you don’t know whether any of the foreign individuals who are going to be meeting with the president this Thursday night, for instance, are on our list of sanctioned individuals or whether any of those individuals have connections to, let’s say, terrorist organizations abroad?” Murphy pressed.
“Well, I think if they had terrorist links, the Department of Homeland Security probably would not have allowed them into the country. But again, I don’t even know there is a dinner on Thursday. You&
“Listen, this is a dinner that the president is having. It is likely going to involve some very significant foreign interests. You have to be pretty wealthy in order to be able to get inside this dinner. Isn’t that a relevant question for the secretary of state?” Murphy insisted.
“Yeah, I’m not the social secretary,” Rubio interjected.
“Which foreign interests are gonna be speaking to the president? I mean, it’s kind of naive to believe that they aren’t gonna be in that room talking about national security matters,” Murphy pressed.
“Well, I don’t think that that’s the case at all, because I would be aware if it was the case,” Rubio hit back, adding:
The truth of the matter is I interact with government officials and others, and governments of other countries. That’s what I’m, I’ll tell you, you’re asking about a dinner I don’t know anything about.I can’t answer you because I don’t know anything about this dinner. It’s the first I heard of it! Like I said, I don’t keep the president’s social schedule. It’s not on my phone. It’s not in my pocket. I don’t even know, I can’t
comment on a dinner that I know nothing about.
Murphy, unimpressed, added, “Yeah, I think that represents a real problem for this committee because there is clearly a way around the State Department for foreign individuals of significant influence and wealth to be able to directly lobby the president of the United States.”
“Well, but I don’t think that’s fair,” Rubio cut in as Murphy added, “Because your answer is that you don’t know this is happening.”
The two started speaking over each other, and Murphy added, “That in and of itself is a problem,” as Rubio continued to deny knowing about the dinner.
“I don’t know that there’s a dinner, and I don’t know what the guest list is, but I can tell you, I’ve run into the president of FIFA from the World Cup. He’s here all the time. I see him. He’s a private individual. It’s not a government entity. And he’s met with the president and is friendly with the president. He doesn’t have to go through me to meet with the president. The president has relationships and friends and people he’s known for a long time. Some of them are foreigners. That’s not unusual,” Rubio said.
“But you’re asking me about a specific dinner and implying the various impacts. I can’t comment on
Murphy cut in, “I think you should probably endeavor to get your hands on the list to make sure that there aren’t individuals there who are perhaps contravening national security interests that –”
Rubio interjected, “Well, I don’t think that’s – I don’t have any concern about that. I don’t have any concerns that the president having dinner with someone is going to contravene the national security of the United States.”
Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.